Warriors dish up high drama

Without question, Lake George's legendary drama department now has some stiff competition - from the local gridiron tribe.

The Lake George Warriors football team served up some suspenseful theater Sept. 9 under the lights in their back-from-the-dead 14-13 turnaround victory versus Corinth.

Down 13-0 approaching halftime, the Warriors forced some turnovers, created opportunities and turned the game on its head.

Football coach Jeff Bennett said he appreciated his team's never-say-die attitude.

"Our guys hung tough," he said. "The team's got a lot of fight, battling back like they did."

The winning touchdown had its own mini-drama. Bennett knew his quarterback Willy Blunt had hurt his foot, and Bennett was ready to sideline him, the coach said.

But Blunt convinced Bennett to let him stay in the game - and the next play, Blunt took off for a 25-yard gain, Bennett said.

"Two plays after his 25-yard run, Blunt punched it in for the winning touchdown," Bennett said. "It's great when kids pull through under pressure."

After the touchdown, the Warriors held off Corinth, which had two minutes left to answer, and they did with a 33-yard gain, but the Warrior defenders held tough, stopping the drive and securing the win.

The drama had a lot of heroes for a Broadway epic. There was Peter Fisher who recovered a Corinth fumble at the Tomahawks' 34 to launch the game-winning drive.

Then there was Marty Zivica, who stole the spotlight with 76 rushing yards including a second-quarter touchdown.

But Bennett identified another tour de force, which he said effectively secured the win: McCabe's block of Corinth's extra-point kick attempt in the second quarter, the Tomahawk's last score.

"It was a huge play," Bennett said with a smile, noting that McCabe had also gave the gridiron drama a crowd-thrilling finale to the game by sacking the Corinth quarterback in the last play of their concluding comeback attempt.

Other elements of success was the performance of the secondary - Zivica and Hunter Hamilton shadowing the Corinth receivers and knocking down passes to suppress the Corinth passing game, as well as providing support for run defense.

Although the Warrior offense basked in the spotlight with the 182 yards on the ground and 15 first downs - about double the Tomahawks, they didn't necessarily dominate the show.

There was the alert, aggressive defense, who shut down Corinth's pass plays, as well as creating opportunities by recovering fumbles - one each for Nate Fidd, Jack Clark and Matt McGowan.

Bennett said he appreciated his team's hard work on Thursday on the gridiron stage.

"Games like this are what makes high school football so much fun," he said.